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Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa (/ˈduːə ˈliːpə/; Albanian: [dua liːpa]; born 22 August 1995) is an English singer, songwriter, and model. Her musical career began at age 14, when she began covering songs by other artists on YouTube. In 2015, she signed with Blood Entertainment and released her first single, Never Be Mine, soon after. In the first months of 2017, Lipa's debut album was cancelled due to disagreements between her management and record label. Lipa and Blood Entertainment soon split ways after that. By the end of 2017, Lipa signed to Demi Lovato's Safehouse Records. Her single Dead was released on December 9th of that year. Her debut studio album Genesis ''was released on February 2nd 2018. The album has spawned three singles thus far, including the UK top-10s "New Rules" and the aforementioned lead. In April 2018, Lipa's ''Dead won "Best Music Video" at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Early Life Lipa was born on 22 August 1995 in London, to Albanian parents from Kosovo who had left Pristina in the 1990s. She attended Sylvia Young Theatre School, part-time, before moving to Kosovo with her family in 2008. Lipa grew up listening to her father, singer Dukagjin Lipa. Her first name means "love" in Albanian; its atypical nature was cause for distaste in her youth, but she grew to "enjoy" it, as it eventually eliminated the need for a stage name. At the age of 14, she began posting covers of her favourite songs by artists such as P!nk and Nelly Furtado on YouTube. At the age of 15, she moved back to London with aspirations of becoming a singer. Shortly after, she began working as a model. In 2013, she starred in a television advertisement for The X Factor. Career 2016-2017: "Never Be Mine" and label issues Lipa introduced herself to the music scene with her songwriting skills, which garnered her some attention. She was originally writing for herself and her own music, but music producers insisted those songs weren't to become hits unless some other artists sang them. During this time, she co-wrote the Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit single Hotter Than Hell, performed by Demi Lovato and Tinashe, and also wrote Thinking 'Bout You ''from Rita Ora's ''Decisions ''album and ''Science Fiction ''from Charli XCX's Grammy nominated album XCXISION. Eventually, Lipa signed a record deal and put out her first single, ''Never Be Mine, in 2017. The song garnered the public's attention and it went on to become a big hit worldwide. The song featured rapper Nicki Minaj, and made its way to the top of the charts (reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving a 6x platinum certification from the RIAA). Following success from her first single, Lipa started working on her debut record. She released a second single, called Past Lives, which failed to obtain the level of success its predecessor had garnered. After months of uncertainty and no actual news about her album, Lipa confirmed the rumors that she was departing her former label after "management issues". The singer and the company agreed to cut ties, as "it was in everybody's interest". All of the songs Lipa had already recorded for her album were kept by the label, and the project was cancelled. 2017-2018: Safehouse Records and "Genesis" After weeks of rumors, on December 1st 2017 Safehouse Records (founded by american singer and songwriter Demi Lovato) announced they had successfully signed a record deal with Lipa, and that her new music was set for release "soon". Shortly after, Lipa posted on Twitter the artwork for her new single, Dead. The artwork featured Lipa in a silk, pink dress, on a dark room and with her eyes crossed off. Around the same time, Lipa confirmed she was working on a full album. Dead was officially released to all digital platforms on December 9th, 2017. The song debuted at number #36 in the United States and #18 in the United Kingdom, with sales of 15,983 and 31,920 respectively. Lipa visited The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Kimmel, Alan Carr: Chatty Man and other popular TV shows, where she talked about the song and performed it live. When asked about the song's backstory, Lipa confirmed she did not take part in the writing of Dead, but that she felt it really close to her heart because she resonated with the song a lot. Fans speculated over the possibility she meant the song as a message to her former boyfriend Martin Garrix, who allegedly cheated on Dua while they were still together. On December 16th 2017, Lipa co-hosted the Billboard Music Awards with Nick Jonas and performed Dead. The official music video for Dead premiered on YouTube on December 29th 2017. The video sparked huge controversy due to images of Lipa stabbing a supposedly abusive boyfriend to death, and then running away, leaving the corpse behind. Lipa faced harsh criticism from the Parents Television Council, who claimed Lipa was "braindead" for "including such graphic and violent imagery" in her video, arguing that "children are impressionable beings that will be watching this video and feel encouraged to collect knives, using them to stab their parents or even other children". Despite the criticism, the Dead ''music video got considerable praise from fans and peers, and it eventually won "Best Music Video" at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. As of June 6th 2018, ''Dead has sold over 4 million pure units worldwide, and has amassed over 839 million streams counting Spotify and VEVO only. The audio video for Dead is one of the most watched audio videos in the past year on VEVO, surpassing 65 million views. The song went top 10 in several countries, including the US (#5), Australia (#8), Germany (#3), France (#3) and the UK, where it reached its peak of #2 in its fourth week. Following Dead's astonishing success, Lipa took to Twitter to confirm her debut album would come out at the beginning of 2018. During the Christmas holidays, Lipa teased a surprise through social media, and said she would be announcing something big on January 1st 2018. On New Year's, Lipa officially confirmed via Twitter that her debut album would be called Genesis, ''and said pre-orders should be available soon. She also shared the album's official artwork, which features her on a gloomy, emerald-green room, wearing an orange bandana on her neck. On January 6th 2018, Lipa announced pre-orders for ''Genesis would be available a week after. She also announced a new song called Blow Your Mind (Mwah) ''would be released on the same day, and one would get it instantly along with the pre-order for the record. ''Blow Your Mind ''reached the top 30 of all the most important music markets, and sold over 624,000 pure units worldwide. It is also certified gold by the RIAA. On January 12th 2018, Lipa confirmed ''Genesis ''would be coming out on February 9th. However, just a few days later, she took to Twitter to reveal the album release date had been changed: it would now be released a week earlier, on February 2nd. While many speculations and rumors spread around, saying Lipa changed the date to avoid being blocked by Ariana Grande (who was set to release her album ''Craving on February 9th), neither Lipa or her representatives had a say in the situation. On February 2nd 2018, Lipa released Genesis. ''The album included 12 tracks, including collaborations with Nick Jonas (''Next To You) and Miguel (Lost In Your Light). Genesis ''received excellent reviews, with critics giving it the highest score of the year (83/100). Lipa held this record from February 2nd to April 15th 2018. Britney Spears' ''Bare achieved the same score, and Armani's Naked beat it with a 94/100. Through the month of February, Lipa opened for Nick Jonas on the North-American leg of his Freedom World Tour. ''She performed a few songs from her debut album, and went on stage during Nick's set to perform ''Next To You ''with him. On February 24th 2018, Lipa premiered her new single 'Running', which featured Shawn Mendes, at the American Music Awards. The song was revealed to be a part of the deluxe edition of ''Genesis, which was surprise-released on that same day. Lipa and Mendes' performance gathered the public's attention, and Running went on to debut at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, with sales of over 244,000. The music video for Running was released on March 2nd 2018. Lipa extended her streak of controversial videos, this time around by continuing the storyline of Dead. The video showed a runaway Lipa, meeting Mendes (who is openly gay in reality) in a deserted town, and passionately hooking up with him. Compared to Dead, Running's success was more modest, surpassing 2 million pure units sold worldwide, and garnering over 400 million cumulative streams as of June 11th 2018. On April 2nd 2018, Lipa announced she would be embarking on her first ever headlining tour, The New Rules World Tour. ''The tour was named after one of the songs on the album, which sparked up rumors about it becoming a single. The North-American dates for the tour were announced and quickly sold out in their entirety. Lipa visited over 15 theatres and performed a catalogue of songs from her album and previous hits. The North-American leg of the tour collected favorable reviews, with Lipa's performing skills being praised. Lipa released ''New Rules as the third official single from Genesis on April 27th 2018. The song was steady on the charts during its first weeks. Lipa announced New Rules would be having two visuals, and released the first one on May 11th 2018. The video features a line-up of female artists, actresses and entertainers, such as Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Delta Goodrem, Britney Spears, Miranda Sings or Ellen DeGeneres. The visual was quickly praised for its empowering message. Lipa partnered with Pepsi and performed New Rules at the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final in Kiev. She also performed a brief portion of IDGAF, a fan-favorite track from Genesis.